During August 9th’s regularly scheduled meeting of the LaFayette City Council, Shannon McConnell presented a tentative plan for restoring and using the former LaFayette High School football field and stadium on First Street. McConnell, a Roper engineer and member of the Rotary Club who recently returned from military service in Afghanistan, was inspired (at least in part) by a LaFayette Underground article about the field that prompted much discussion among some of the school’s alumni and other interested parties.

McConnell’s proposal was light on specifics or dollar figures, but heavy with a vision for “revitalizing downtown” through a restored stadium that could host a wide array of events and activities. Those activities would include a 5k or 10k run, a barbeque and cooking contest, fireworks, a portion of Scare on the Square, an annual Johnny Cash tribute concert, and a variety of other musical acts. The field could also be used for an “old graduates” football game, a powderpuff game, and the recreational department’s 4-11 year old football games already held there.

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there’s a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he’s a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you’d think He’s talking straight to you and me.

Well, we’re doin’ mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin’ cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought’a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin’ for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believin’ that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believin’ that we all were on their side.

Johnny Cash recorded this self-referential song, Man in Black, in February 1971. SIx months earlier, in August 1970, Cash and an entourage of other performers put on a concert here in the tiny town of LaFayette. While this yet-unreleased song wasn’t (far as we can find) a part of the concert, the mental state that led to its creation and the LaFayette concert can both be credited to some time Cash unwillingly spent in LaFayette a few years earlier.

A LaFayette Underground article from June detailing the sorry condition of the old LHS football field has generated a significant response from the community that could give that facility a new lease on life. But the field’s second chance may depend on you helping convince the city’s leadership to let it happen.

As noted in our June 24th post, the former LHS football facility – including Patton Stadium, Tucker Field, and the Johnny Cash Band Room – was turned over to LaFayette Recreation shortly after the high school relocated in 1997. In the 13 years since, the city of LaFayette renamed the complex after Ross Abney but did little to keep it maintained, presentable, or safe. The old field presents vast potential for hosting concerts, movies, sporting events, and other community activities, but in its current condition is nothing much beyond an eyesore and waste of space.

Our article received much attention through Facebook recommendations and a cursory link from The Walker County Messenger. Some of the hundreds who read the piece began to discuss ways to remedy the field’s sorry condition, and several began to take action to make those remedies a reality.